Hustle's Lester loved diverse role (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Hustle's Lester loved diverse role

1:04am Monday 13th February 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2011

Adrian Lester has said his Hustle role has allowed him to "play different people all the time".

The actor plays grifter Mickey Stone in the series, and the character is always assuming different identities to carry out the cons.

Lester said: "This is the only character I've seen which allows you to play different people all the time: accent, persona, place, position, you name it. Through Mickey I've got to do a hell of a lot more acting than I would have done in any other series."

The 43-year-old continued: "Geordie's my favourite. And because I'm a stickler for details, I listened to and learnt the patterns and phonetics, but the rhythms are close to some accents of the Caribbean islands, so I was like, 'Why doesn't this sound right?' And when I went on, some people said, 'I loved your Geordie-maican!'."

The actor's time as Stone is coming to an end, as the series finishes this month.

He revealed he'll miss his co-stars, particularly legendary Man From U.N.C.L.E. actor Robert Vaughn, because he knows it will be harder to stay in contact with him once he moves back to America.

"The life he's had, the places he's been, the things he's seen... I can tell you stories about being naked in Trafalgar Square but when you're working with a guy like Robert, you're trumped. His stories start with, 'Then McQueen looked at me, and he said...' I'm like, 'Here's my anecdote Equity card, have it!'," Lester laughed.

:: The last episode of Hustle is on BBC One on Friday, February 17.